Eric Knowles Calls In For A Cuppa.

Its always nice to see Eric, he was in town for a Bonhams valuation day and he popped over for a cuppa. He was quite taken by the strident panther on a marble and onyx base that he is holding in the picture that was taken in my shop today. He always seems so genuinely interested in his stock in trade, the Art Deco period. We had a good natter about the job and where its going, with the new Internet age, and decided we both don't know. But it has opened a lot of new opportunities where a piece can be viewed all round the world within minutes of it being put on line. http://www.classicartdeco.co.uk/sculpture.php

Diana The Huntress by Lejan-Piece of the Week.

Sometimes the French craqelle glazed sculptures of the inter war years can be underrated.
This is an amazing piece of movement, it almost looks as if it has been designed in a wind tunnel.
LEJAN did some wonderful sculptures, and some not too good but there is a mystery surrounding the work of the sculptor who may have in fact been a group of sculptors which may go some way to explaining the inconsistency of the work.
I used this sculpture by LEJAN in a exhibition called The Age Of Jazz curated by Sue Lunt at the Walker Art Gallery, to which I was commissioned to put together a room setting.
The signature can be seen on several different craquelles sometimes signed JAN LE, JANLE and I have had a interesting black glazed Panther signed JEAN.
There was a sculpture and a Pate de Verre vase that went through a New York Christies sale in 1990 signed Walter Nancy Le Jan.
Almeric Walter (Sevres1859-1860) was a collaborator with Daum.
Some of the rare pieces have the mark Orchies or Moulin des Loups. There is also a theory that it may have been a woman and it is why the masculine style of some of the sculptures may not have suited being attributed to a lady but needed to be seen in a masculine manner. This piece is some 50cm long signed LEJAN looks as good from several different angles, and is pretty wonderful

Pair of Chairs by George Montague Ellwood-Piece Of The Week

 A pair of exceptional Arts & Crafts side chairs designed by George Montague Ellwood & made by J S Henry.
The single central back splat united by two lower cross stretchers which cleverly emulate the lower twin side stretchers & single side uprights which are united by a higher single cross stretcher with its roundel.
A single variation to this chair with copper inlay sold at Sotheby's London on 22nd Feb 2006, it made £5040 with the buyer's premium that chair was almost identical in form.

George Montague Ellwood (1875-1955) Artist, Designer & Interior Decorator was educated at Holloway Art School & later studied in Paris, Berlin, Dresden & Vienna & at Camden School of Art from 1916 to 1924. In 1897 he won the gold medal for his furniture designs at the National Competition, South Kensington. He was one of the founding members of the 'Guild of Art Craftsmen', comprising the likes of Onslow Whiting (metal & repousse' work) J Osmond (a carver), & Richard Garbe (sculptor).They held regular exhibitions of their works, situated at Camden Square, London.

Some of Ellwood's best work was between 1900-1905/6 when he was the head designer for J S Henry (John Sollie Henry, founded c1880) of Old Street, London.

Ellwood knew how to strengthen a piece of furniture yet retain a lightness of touch that is still surprising in its vision, today.

The simple addition of the upright that connects to an additional internal stretcher gives the chair an architectural strength, yet manages to give the chair an air of lightness.

All this extra work adding to the integral strength in such a way that he was able to create modernism in a Victorian age.

 Other designers such as C F A Voysey, W J Neatby, G Walton, W A S Benson, & E G Punnett whom also supplied designs for J S Henry were tryng hard to encapsulate the same vision.

J S Henry made furniture to their designs in oak, walnut, green stained sycamore & mahogany, often inlaid with fruitwood, pewter & copper depicting stylistic & organic designs. Ellwood's designs for J S Henry were exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exhibition & won a silver medal. He exhibited at a number of venues between 1899 & 1915, including four times at the Royal Academy. He also worked for Bath Cabinetmakers & the Bristol based firm of Trapnell & Gane. Later he traded as Ellwood & Sledmere at 53 Mortimer Street, London. & designed posters for the London Underground Group between 1912 & 1914 now displayed at The Transport Museum.

He became editor of Drawing & Design Journal & in later years continuing his life's work he wrote several books on drawing & design.

Daum Acid Etched Vase-Piece of the Week

Sometimes simplicity is key to good design and Daum were usually quite good at simple art deco designs combined with craftsmanship. This vase is 31cm high.
see glass section of my website; http://www.classicartdeco.co.uk/glass.php


Founded in 1878 by Jean Daum[1] (1825–1885).
His sons, Auguste Daum (1853–1909) and Antonin Daum (1864–1931), ran the company during Art Nouveau period.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1900 Daum was awarded a ‘Grand Prix’ medal. Daum glass became more elaborate, acid etching (by Jacques Gruber) was often combined with carving, enamelling and engraving on a single piece of glass to produce creative glass master-pieces.
Daum creations also feature applied glass elements, such as handles and ornamental motifs in naturalistic forms.
The Daum brothers were one of the major forces in the Art Nouveau movement, seriously rivalling Gallé, so much so that when Émile Gallé died in 1904 they became the leaders in the field of decorative glass.
In 1906 Daum revived pâte de verre (glass paste), an ancient Egyptian method of glass casting, developing the method so that by the 1930s Daum's window panels used pâte de verre for richness instead of leaded or painted glass.

Daum gradually moved into the Art Deco period. The creations in this new style are some of the best of its period. Glass became a tool with which to create good design and Daum began to use the skills learnt during the Art Nouveau time to move with the times.
On the art deco pieces they produced it can be seen how the craftsmen worked.
Bevels were arranged in cubist form, planes were cut deep into a crystallised or frosted  aspect, leaving parts of a pattern rough and other parts polished. Geometric patterns were arranged and motifs employed that were fresh and vibrant for the jazz age.
Always tactile to hold and feel. The differing textures were copied and imitated but very rarely equalled.
The Exposition International des Art Decoratif et Industrial held in Paris in 1925 gave them an opportunity to show their wares off to buyers all over the word and with the skill of its craftsman the Daum company had years of prosperity leaving us today with some of the finest examples of Art Deco.
They don't come cheap quality never does this one is over £500 but where can you find something with such sophistication for less.

Antique Road Trip-The BBC's David Harper Drops In.

I had just come back from a buying trip in France, my own antique road trip and the BBC dropped in again, to do some more filming. This time for The Antique Road Trip.
The format is pretty well recorded David buys a few bits from me that he then attempts to sell on at a local auction, which unfortunatly may be Cato Crane's, and hopefully make a profit.
 He is a dealer so of corse he will be as hard a negotiator as the rest of us are. I was as helpful as I coul be, but we seemed to get along well enough, I hope he makes a profit on the items he bought from me an goes on to win the challenge. Not sure when the programme will go out hopefully soon. My trip to France meant I ha a lot of new things in the shop www.classicartdeco.co.uk and David was genuinly impressed by the shop. Have look by clicking on the link.

www.classicartdeco.com-I Own this Domain

I had a person calling himself Errol Spence doing some Internet work for me, who took this domain classicartdeco from me without my permission. I do not relinquish ownership of it. He has been trying to sell it on without my permission

I was told he also went under the name of Errol George.
The letter below is self explanatory. Do not attempt to buy it
He took this domain from me registering it at an address  that did not exist 6a Denman Drive Liverpool L6 7UE.
He had registered it at an address that did not exist but had an address at 18h Denman Drive.  He seems connected with a company called Euromatech and Kuzmo.
He used to work in the internet cafe in London Road Liverpool.
There are a lot of people on Ebay who may wish to know his whereabouts.
 Don't let him do any work for you as you may regret it.



WAYNE COLQUHOUN

Antiques and Fine Art
11-13 Holts Arcade
India Buildings
Water Street
LIVERPOOL L2 ORR



www.classicartdeco.co.uk


Waynecolquhoun@gmail.com

Tel: 0151 236 1282
21.6.12

The Managing Director



NameMedia, Inc.

BuyDomains Division

230 Third Avenue

Waltham, MA 02451


WWW.CLASSICARTDECO.COM

I write to inform you that I am the owner of the above website and that it has been directly taken from me by a Errol Spence A.K.A. Errol George.
I advise you that if you attempt to sell this domain this will be illegal.
I am the legal owner and have paperwork to prove it.

I am in contact with my solicitor and legal correspondence will follow.



Wayne Colquhoun

Herculaneum Ship Plate-Piece Of The Week

Liverpool Pottery at the Herculaneum factory in sight of the Mersey Estuary of course had to produce wares portraying ships. They are now quite rare as most of them are in American collections. They were popular at the time with the people who manned the ships and were made as late as 1830. A range of three masted and on occasions two masted vessels were often portrayed. The last ships plate I had was sold to a client whose girlfriend was doing a trip in a tall masted ship. She took part in the ceremony at the crossing of the equator and during that trip she circumnavigated the Cape off the African coast, a perilous journey still. This was a nice touch. I thought a modern take on the exact sentiment that would have seen the plate originally bought in 1805. They often had flags to suit customer preferences (British, American, Dutch and even Danish Flags).

Peter Hyland in his book Liverpool's Forgotten Glory says (pg 58) "Judging by the frequency in which these plates turn up today, they must have been extremely popular and treasured. It is not unusual to find a 'ship plate' which has been broken many years ago and carefully riveted together"       

This one in fact has some very old restoration to the rim. If an object could tell a story what would this plate say.

Has it been to America? And Back? What is the ship printed in the middle and who bought it, was it a sea captain or a sweetheart to give to her loved one when he risked his life on uncharted waters?

Maybe, I will never know for sure, but it really is a piece that sums up 18th century Liverpool, and not just local history but Maritime art. This is now 200 years old. It is a shame the people now running Liverpool museums don't think the same way about our forgotten glory. http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.com/2009/06/herculaneum-pottery-held-by-liverpool.html

The 'Ship Plates' are a treasure any collection of Liverpool Ceramics without one would be bare.